UNCTAD partners with developing countries to address challenges and capitalize on opportunities in the areas of transport infrastructure, trade facilitation and logistics, related administrative, procedural and legal frameworks, and customs automation.

UNCTAD's work in the field of transport and trade logistics includes:

Research and analysis

Dissemination of information on recent developments

Providing advice to developing countries when formulating and implementing policies and programmes

Assisting in the development and implementation of national legal frameworks in line with international legal instruments and standards, and providing support to developing countries in the context of multilateral negotiations

Providing technical assistance, training and advanced software solutions for modernisation of Customs Administrations' clearance procedures and systems, in line with international standards and best practice

News

​The report is based on the analysis of fifty trade facilitation bodies and provides a first-hand set of recommendations and policy-oriented conclusions aimed at assisting those countries that are looking to set up or strengthen their national trade facilitation committees.

The Review of Maritime Transport 2014, covering developments in international seaborne trade, shipping, the world fleet, ports, freight markets, and transport-related regulatory and legal frameworks, is now available. The Review also looks at marginalization of small island developing states.

​The report is based on research conducted in 26 least developed and developing countries, and provides valuable insight into the status of implementation of trade facilitation measures covered by the World Trade Organization's Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement.

​Small island developing States must develop resilient transport systems and look towards opportunities offered by the ocean if they are to boost their economies, a high-level side event organized by the Pacific Island Forum and UNCTAD heard during the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) on 3 September.

Ways to make oceans 'engines of economic growth' for economically vulnerable small islands will be featured at an UNCTAD-backed side event during a major United Nations conference on the problems of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).